Monday, June 27, 2005

Ghostopia, Chapter 35: Deception

Madness! Madness! Madness! Madness! Madness!
Here they were, seven of them in total, standing in front of the Level 94 Office. The lights inside were still on and voices could be heard. Every now and then the scrapy creak of furniture being dragged rang out loud, evidence of the rearranging Mortie said was going on.
"Now, remember," Mortie lowered his voice. "Those Ghosts in there can see that we're Ghosts just like them, but we'll have to play smart - everyone follow my lead. As for the Spooks, they'll think we're Spooks as well. The trick here is not let both the Spooks and Ghosts catch us at the same time. Understood?"
Heads nodded.
"Showtime."

"Extra security? I don't think we called for any of that. We already have enough Spooks here." The Ghost in charge, a burly moustached guy, eyed them charily.
"No sir, you did not call for us. We were sent by the Level 121 Office." Mortie replied with a poker face.
"Level 121? Which one is that?"
"Um, I'd rather that remain confidential."
"Then that's too bad, pal. No way I'm letting you in without knowing who you are, or where you're from."
Mortie frowned and looked down, arms folded, as though making a difficult decision.
"All right, I'll tell you, but make sure not a single soul hears about this. If my boss finds out I'm leaking such information, I'm dead."
"Heh. You got my word."
"You heard about what happened to the Lower Level Office in Unprotected Ghostopia?" His tone grew deadly serious.
"The break-in?"
"Uh-huh. And we have a lead that says this place could be next."
"Here? Why?"
"You do have a copy of the newcomer entry records here, don't you?"
"Um, yes."
"That's the same thing they broke into the other Office for. Someone wants to get their hands on all the records."
"I see," the Ghost scratched his chin smugly. "No worries, that guy's gonna get his with our Spooks guarding the place."
"You're wrong, Mister..."
"Lester."
"Mr. Lester. Those guys, whoever they are, can't be handled by Spooks alone. They've got some sort of weapon that makes Spooks unable to detect them."
"Rubbish. Sixteen years here, and I've never seen any common criminal a good Spook can't handle."

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